The power of present fathers; new IVF tech sparks ethical alarm

Greetings! We have only a few more days left in the month of June.

Piggybacking off of Father’s Day, Wisconsin Family Action has spent this past month highlighting the importance of fathers and the role they play in their families’ lives. To that end, the organization released a list from the Institute for Family Studies with 20 of the best benefits that involved fathers provide their families. I thought they were worth sharing, so here they are: Benefits to the family:

• Higher levels of family income

• Reduced risks of poverty

• Increased time flexibility Benefits to the kids:

• Reduced rates of prematurity and infant mortality

• Less crying as newborns

• Fewer academic challenges

• Reduced risk-taking behavior and delinquency in adolescence

• Fewer behavioral challenges

• Fewer mental health challenges

• Increased physical activity levels

• Less substance abuse

• Better social functioning and fewer romantic relationship problems

• Reduced risk of early sexual experiences and teen pregnancy

• Increased earning potential as adults Benefits to Mom:

• Fewer health problems as mothers

• Ability to offer higher-quality parenting

• More time for leisure activities

• Increased mental and emotional wellbeing Benefits to Dad:

• Greater engagement in ser vice organizations

• Improved diet and physical activity

• Decreased risky behaviors

• Decreased alcohol use

• Strengthened intergenerational family ties

• And many more!

So, to the dads out there: Remember, even though the culture might try to tell you that your role is not important or you can easily be replaced, that couldn’t be further from the truth. You matter in your kids’ lives. Your strong, steady, guiding presence will impact them more than you know.

-In other news from Wisconsin Family Action, a company called Nucleus Genomics released a new “genetics optimization software” earlier this month that allows parents using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to test and compare embryos before deciding which one to implant. Parents can view the complete genetic profile of up to 20 embryos, which includes physical traits, intelligence quotient (IQ), and health risk factors.They can have a side-by-side comparison of each embryo’s traits, including height, hair color, eye color, and predisposition for anxiety, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and a host of other conditions. Parents are encouraged to “name your embryos and leave notes on the ones you like.”

Unused embryos will either be frozen indefinitely or destroyed, unless they are part of the very small percentage – approximately 0.21 percent of 1.6 million embryos being stored today – that get adopted.

The ranking of embryos and deeming which ones live or die based on their “fitness” seems an awful lot like eugenics. It’s a mindset that treats children more like a commodity rather than a gift to be received, regardless of the child’s physical appearance or any disability they might have.

“A child’s life isn’t less valuable based on the color of his eyes, her intelligence level, or his or her predisposition to mental or physical illness. This technology takes us quite a way down the slippery slope that ultimately not only devalues human life but destroys it,” writes Daniel Degner for Wisconsin Family Action. This is not the first company offering genetic testing for embryos. Orchid Health, launched last year, is responsible for developing and marketing the first commercially available whole-genome-sequencing embryo test in nearly three dozen fertility facilities in the United States. This company allows couples undergoing IVF to have five embryos biopsied by genetic screeners to test for schizophrenia, cancers, defects, chromosomal abnormalities, forms of autism, and more. The testing comes at a hefty price tag of $12,500.

The new technology moves us closer to a dystopian reality of “designer babies,” as portrayed in the 1997 science fiction film “Gattaca.”

“It’s going to be normalized. You’ll be walking down the street with your child that maybe has a disability that’s visible to people passing by, and they’re going to stop you and say, ‘You mean you did that on purpose?’… It’s going to seem like, ‘OK, you’re going to burden society by producing these kinds of people?’ I mean, What have we become?” said Jennifer Lahl, founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, in an interview last week with Allie Beth Stuckey.

I hope we do not get to that point, but the technology is certainly there. Right now, it’s currently cost-prohibitive and thus mostly accessible to the elite.

For her part, Orchid’s founder Noor Siddiqui is not shy about her goals for this screening technology. She sees it as becoming a default for any couples looking to have children.

“I think basically sex is for fun and embryo screening is for babies. I think that it’s going to become insane not to screen for these things,” she said (as reported in The Federalist). That is deeply concerning. When we see technology move us from what’s natural to what’s possible, we are obligated to ask if the practice is still ethical and morally responsible, Stuckey pointed out. In other words, just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. If we believe every life has inherent value and dignity, that should inform our ethics and keep us from pitting one life against another. “A society that has proven time and time again that it is willing to sacrifice life in its smallest, most vulnerable form in the name of science and technological advancement needs more than a few laws to be fixed,” writes Jordan Boyd for The Federalist.

I agree.

Have a good week!